1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the proper storage and display of elongated boards such as snowboards and glider type boards, on the wall or a floor-stand type support structure, which are suspended in a vertical or semi-vertical position at which position the board suffers no distortion type damage during periods of non-use and at which position board graphics and art are oriented and intended to be displayed.
Additionally, this invention affords the board owner and/or manufacturing or pro shop technician a high-tech, and state of the art means of properly clamping and securing the board quickly and easily and for manipulating the board and quickly changing the boards position, for purposes of performing work on the board either to the face, edges, tail, tip and/or bindings that are mounted to the board.
2. Description of Related Art
The ever increasing sport of snowboarding and most recently the continually improving selection of graphics or art work available to the owners of the boards to have applied to their boards has created a need for a device that will hold snowboards firmly, and in a vertical position. Further, it is important to not obstruct the graphics and artwork displayed on the surface of the board thereby prohibiting the board owner from appreciating the visual beauty of the board graphics to its fullest extent. To our knowledge there is no such device available to accomplish this.
Additionally, with much emphasis directed toward board graphics and fine tuning and “tweaking” of binding positions and positions relative to the longitudinal centerline or axis of the board, a need has arisen for the board owner and/or technician to be able to “fixture the board” vertically and at a multiple of positions to perform the application and maintenance process of applying and caring for the graphics and to perform properly the installation and adjusting of the bindings. Again, to our knowledge no such device is available.
Snowboard owners are also concerned about the proper care and storage of their snowboards and the effects on the board from improper storage. Several board manufacturing professionals have advised against hanging boards from their tips, supporting them from their tails or storing them horizontally flat over long periods of non-use as distortion will most likely occur, therefore destroying the performance of the board as it was initially intended. The majority of the devices that are currently available for storing boards use the technique of “standing” the board on its tail or laying the board horizontally across two horizontal supports.
Current art does not address all of these concerns in one comprehensive package, as does this invention, nor does it address these concerns individually as well as this invention, especially with regard to proper storage, positive support, proper display, positive fixturing and ease of manipulation, for the purpose of performing meaningful work to the board.
It is also important that industrial versions intended for pro shops, snowboard and glider board manufacturers, professional snowboard and glider board athletes who work on their own boards, and industries where technicians perform manual labor on relatively narrow and elongated objects, be available, as the unique features of this invention lend themselves readily to commercial use in terms of proper handling of the board and especially in terms of ergonomic correctiveness for the technician working on the board as the invention enables the technician to work on the board without bending over and creating lower back fatigue.
These industrial technical features are not typically associated with a home storage/display unit but rather associated, with a sophisticated pro-shop or manufacturing operation. Additionally, this invention provides the user with an aesthetically pleasing object in the home that is much more than just functional but is in fact a work of art unto itself that has been selected by the user from a variety of designs that all incorporate the same means of operation that the invention encompasses.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device which holds an elongated object in a vertical position.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device that does not damage the elongated object such as a snowboard in that pressure is applied in a relatively uniform fashion to the outer edges of the board, about the midsection or “waist” of the board and does not allow the board to rest on any surface where the weight of the board itself can create enough force to distort and/or reshape the board therefore changing the characteristics of the board thereby destroying the original qualities of the board.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.